Thursday, May 1, 2014

I have been working almost exclusively on The Knox Family sampler. It is a very slow painstaking process on this one, and it seems like I will never be finished.

The beginning rows of alphabet all use the same two colors, and it does get a bit monotonous.

Some of the dividers between the alphabets are interesting. It is hard to see the detail, but here is a slice.

The entire inner border is done in a straight stitch in dark gold.
The first dividing band is done in dark gold cross stitch.
The second band is done in a back stitch using medium green.
The third dividing band is done in a zig-zag fashion with alternating straight stitches of green on the upswing, and dark gold on the down swing.
The fourth dividing band is done in a Long Legged Cross Stitch.
The fifth dividing band is done in Old Fashioned Cross Stitch.

Finally I got to the point where I can work with pink!
Next come the large illuminated letters. Each one takes quite a while to complete.

First the letter is stitched, then the filigree work is completed.

This is where it stands so far.

(Donna, I totally agree with you about the colors. That is why I was drawn to this sampler was for the lovely muted shades. The linen colors goes perfectly with them).

I also did a little bit of work on Winter Watchers.
I finished the male cardinal.

I also finished the branch, and completed a few rows with the background gray, Here is how it looks now.

I will only be working on this once in a while, in between projects. I have to fill in all the gray, then do all the little white French knot snowflakes. That will take some time. I was thinking of making it into a pillow when it is finished.

Last but not least is my April TUSAL, just a few days late.

Although I get quite frustrated with the slow progress of the Knox sampler, I feel like it will be worth the trouble when it is finished, atleast I hope so!